Google Doodle Celebrates Birthday of Douglas Adams

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Google Doodle Celebrates Birthday of Douglas Adams

Posted by samzenpus on Monday March 11, 2013 @06:10AM from the bring-a-towel dept.

mikejuk writes "Today's Google Doodle celebrates the fact that today would have been Douglas Adam's 61st birthday. For any fans of Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy this isn't to be missed. The interactive doodle takes us aboard the Heart of Gold spaceship where the towel — the essential travel item for any intergalactic voyager sits on the console besides the, also very necessary cup of tea, which is also a reference to a Dirk Gently novel, The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul. There are lots more tributes hidden including Marvin — the real one not the one in the film, a Babel Fish and more. Have fun exploring but make sure you click on the search symbol to find out more about Douglas Adams and his work."

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No, he's 49 by Looker_Device · 2013-03-11 06:11 · Score: 2, Insightful

He has 49 been since 2001, and will be long after the dolphins leave and the earth is demolished. Once does not age past death, only decompose.

--
Your political party doesn't care about your rights and only represents corporate interests.
1. Re:No, he's 49 by Dexter+Herbivore · 2013-03-11 06:29 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  By using Google to find it.
2. Re:No, he's 49 by Jeremiah+Cornelius · 2013-03-11 06:30 · Score: 2
  
  Interesting. So young. I'm the age he was, when he passed away. In his photos, you'd swear he was 20-25 years older than I.
  I'm sad he died, and I'd have greatly enjoyed more of his work. Yet, the evidence is that his death might not have been so surprising - if visual assessment of Adams' vitality is any real measure.
  
  --
  "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
  Never been known to fail..."
3. Re:No, he's 49 by Joce640k · 2013-03-11 07:16 · Score: 2
  
  Uh, did you know google is different depending on where you access it from ?
  
  --
  No sig today...
4. Re:No, he's 49 by Armakuni · 2013-03-11 07:28 · Score: 2
  
  He did live a comfortable life, with lots of restaurant visits, as I understand. But he died at a gym, after he resolved to get in shape, possibly after overdoing a strenuous exercise. I think one of his friends later remarked that it was typical of him to go for something at full speed as soon as he had made up his mind to do it. He just went at it a little too hard that time.
  
  --
  That's not Picasso, that's Kandinsky!
5. Re:No, he's 49 by filthpickle · 2013-03-11 08:33 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  He decided that it was a waste of time. You wouldn't comprehend anyway.
Film? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-11 06:14 · Score: 5, Funny

I'm glad no one has ever made a HGTTG film. They would have screwed it up.
1. Re:Film? by pezpunk · 2013-03-11 06:30 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Although uneven, the movie was not bad, with a few brilliant parts. it's not like it's "blasphemous" -- Adams himself wildly changed the story every time it switched mediums. It's got most of the best bits from the book, plus a new ending that does more than just stop (as the book does), and as a bonus it does a great job of capturing Adams' absolute love and fascination with life itself.
  not saying it's great beginning to end, but acting like it's any more uneven than a lot of his books is silly.
  
  --
  i could live a little longer in this prison
2. Re:Film? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-11 06:53 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  I didn't care for the film on first watch, but warmed up to it after 2 or 3 more viewings. I think the biggest thing they screwed up was "Hollywoodizing" it. It's too American - what I loved about the BBC series and books was their British. Arthur Dent and our window into his world are quintessentially British.
  That said, the movie had some nice new bits, such as cutting back to the pub just before the Earth is destroyed to see everyone lying on the floor with bags on their heads!
  One thing that bothered me was casting Mos Def as Ford. And not because he's black; he's just wrong for the part. I came out of the movie feeling like Ford wasn't in it.
  (captcha: rescind)
3. Re:Film? by pezpunk · 2013-03-11 07:14 · Score: 2
  
  yeah ... i liked the casting in theory but then not so much in practice. i know what you mean.
  i think my absolute favorite part is the destruction scene: the brutal, stomping musical queues as the camera zooms out from the rubble of arthur's home to outer space, giving a true sense of the mind-breaking scale of the vogon fleet, before it simply ploops the earth into oblivion.
  
  --
  i could live a little longer in this prison
4. Re:Film? by geminidomino · 2013-03-11 07:33 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  I honestly didn't have a problem with Ford, but that may well be because I had no idea there was a Mos Def before I saw the movie. Zaphod, on the other hand, had me grinding out my own fillings.
  And the less said about the iMarvin, the better...
5. Re:Film? by Simon+Brooke · 2013-03-11 07:49 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  The original radio series is by far the best and funniest version. As people so often say, the pictures are better on the radio. If you haven't heard it, buy yourself a present.
  
  --
  I'm old enough to remember when discussions on Slashdot were well informed.
6. Re:Film? by rilister · 2013-03-11 08:32 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  "Getting a movie made in Hollywood is like trying to grill a steak by having a succession of people coming into the room and breathing on it."
  Douglas Adams
  
  --
  'This writing business. Pencils and what-not. Over-rated if you ask me. Silly stuff. Nothing in it' - Eeyore
Marvin by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-11 06:14 · Score: 3, Interesting

"There are lots more tributes hidden including Marvin - the real one not the one in the film"
Huh? What makes the TV Marvin "the real one"?
I always thought the TV Marvin was completely wrong, compared to how he's described in the books.
1. Re:Marvin by tom17 · 2013-03-11 06:26 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Though I agree with your sentiment in principle, when I was a child, the TV series was my first exposure to the story and thusly, for me*, the TV Marvin is the real one (It also had the correct voice which helps the continuity).
  I also went on to consume said story in every other form that I could find, and liked them all, bar one. it helped that, for the most part, the radio and TV show had the same voices.
  However, I know some people that will have seen the film first and to them, *that* is the real Marvin and that just makes me want to curl up & shudder.
  *I have always supposed that for any given story or song, the first version you experienced will always be the greatest in your own mind. Haven't found many exceptions to this rule yet.
2. Re:Marvin by bigattichouse · 2013-03-11 07:11 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Sadly, the OP doesn't realize that the TV marvin *WAS* in the movie. He's in the queue for paperwork.
  
  --
  meh
3. Re:Marvin by Beardo+the+Bearded · 2013-03-11 09:55 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  See, the TV and movie Marvin are the same. Marvin keeps getting all his parts replaced, given that he's several times older than the universe itself.
  New chassis, new interface, new hydraulics, everything's been replaced several times in different tech levels and different planets...
  (except for one bank of painful diodes on the left side. )
  
  --
  
  ---
  ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
4. Re:Marvin by Intropy · 2013-03-11 12:27 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  The Hitchhiker's trilogy is inaccurately named, sadly no longer increasingly so.
Douglas Adams... by SternisheFan · 2013-03-11 06:27 · Score: 4, Funny

It is no coincidence that in no known language does the phrase 'As pretty as an Airport' appear. - Douglas Adams
http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Douglas_Adams/
I was so upset at the reminder of his death... by Dexter+Herbivore · 2013-03-11 06:28 · Score: 4, Funny

that I threw myself at the ground and missed. On the bright side, I now know how to fly.
1. Re:I was so upset at the reminder of his death... by X0563511 · 2013-03-11 06:45 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  It's funny though, how accurate that idea is. That's exactly what orbiting is - falling, but moving sideways so fast that you miss the ground.
  
  --
  For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
2. Re:I was so upset at the reminder of his death... by Dexter+Herbivore · 2013-03-11 07:01 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  That was part of the beauty of his writing. He found humour in the simplification to basics.
Re:What doodle? by SternisheFan · 2013-03-11 06:35 · Score: 3, Informative

This is someone's YouTube video of it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1a87wzILF0
Re:Wow... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-11 07:22 · Score: 3, Insightful

Are we going to have a slashdot story for every Google Doogle now?
Yes, and you will comment every time about how they are a complete waste of your very valuable time!
Re:Wow... by Erbo · 2013-03-11 07:22 · Score: 3, Funny

No, only the ones that promise excitement and adventure and really wild things.

--
Be who you are...and be it in style!
Re:Non-rounded, often obscure and "deathdays"... by JMonty42 · 2013-03-11 07:34 · Score: 2

I'm sorry, but once someone dies, they can no longer have birthdays after their death. It should be "61st anniversary of his birth"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/birthday A birthday is literally the anniversary of one's birth. A death day would presumably be the anniversary of one's death. My only qualm with this doodle is that it doesn't really appear to say "Google". I haven't been paying attention to all the doodles, but I like the ones that say Google while still relating to what the subject matter is.
Actually, the tea is... by eegad · 2013-03-11 07:37 · Score: 3, Informative

... a strong Brownian Motion producer, which is essential for the Infinite Improbability Drive which powers Zaphod's stolen spaceship, the Heart of Gold.

So Adams must have mentioned tea in more than one body of work, which isn't too surprising for an Englishman.

BTW, editors, it's Douglas Adams' birthday, not Douglas Adam's birthday. Although, according to infinite improbability, there is probably a Douglas Adam whose birthday it is today as well. Oh dear...
1. Re:Actually, the tea is... by the_other_chewey · 2013-03-11 08:29 · Score: 3, Informative
  ... a strong Brownian Motion producer, which is essential for the Infinite Improbability Drive which powers Zaphod's stolen spaceship, the Heart of Gold.
  So Adams must have mentioned tea in more than one body of work, which isn't too surprising for an Englishman.
  Completely useless stats for the record:
  
  Tea is mentioned 31 times in the five volumes of the Hitchhiker Trilogy. That includes
  once in the first volume's dedication ("...for tea, sympathy, and a sofa"), and three
  uses of the phrase "a liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea"
  (twice in vol. 1, once in vol. 2).
  
  In detail:
  
  Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: 5
  The Restaurant at the End of the Universe: 13
  Life, the Universe, and Everything: 8
  So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish: 4
  Mostly Harmless: 1
Re:Non-rounded, often obscure and "deathdays"... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-11 07:59 · Score: 2, Informative

You're not paying close enough attention then.
Hint: Look at the colors of the standard Google logo and the colors in the doodle.
The roll of tape plus the blue cylinder make 'G', the red radio and yellow teacup make 'oo,' the blue Guide plus the leather bag make a rough 'g', the green towel is 'l' and the red window is 'e.'
It's always in there, just have to look.
Re:Non-rounded, often obscure and "deathdays"... by rilister · 2013-03-11 08:37 · Score: 2

"Google Doodles like this do rub me up the wrong way. For a start, the person concerned is often an obscure one (or at least obscure outside the US - the US-centric doodles end up on Google UK, where they probably don't belong)."
I'm confused: you object because you learn something? Maybe I misunderstood.
Personally, I prefer the ones I don't know... (sorry if this seems snotty - I'm perfectly sincere.)

--
'This writing business. Pencils and what-not. Over-rated if you ask me. Silly stuff. Nothing in it' - Eeyore
Re:Non-rounded, often obscure and "deathdays"... by Beardo+the+Bearded · 2013-03-11 09:57 · Score: 2

Where?

--

---
ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
In mitigation by itsdapead · 2013-03-11 11:17 · Score: 2

The BBC video series was also terrible.
...but the utterly inspired "computer" animated sequences accompanying the narration made up for it.

--
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.